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We are a strong, dedicated group of more than 100 Boy Scouts and Scout Leaders committed to living by the Scout Oath, helping other people, becoming significant leaders in our community and having a lot of fun along the way.

Thursday morning, June 29th, 2017

Another morning, another electrical storm. Although many of us were up much earlier, anyone who had plans to sleep a bit more this morning had their hopes dashed by the oncoming rain and lightning. Once more, we repaired to out sturdy shelter to wait out the possible danger such weather presents. We had been experiencing a light drizzle since right about 3:00 AM but the real heart of the storm arrived just before 6:30 AM.

As the threat is lightning rather than a wind storm, several of our Scouters opted for the shelter of the pavilion, which offers the accommodation of places to sit. Not only places to sit, but places to write. But back to the more-expected features of summer camp life.

Our first year Scouts have been keeping busy at Camp Geiger’s ‘Trail to First Class’ program. Some of the information is review for our boys, most of whom are well on their way to becoming First Class Scouts. As the week has progressed, however, more and more of the items are new to them, or very nearly so. TTFC occupies the morning here at camp but the afternoons are available for earning various merit badges, such as swimming and cooking. Other popular topics include leatherworking, pottery, and Chess. There is free time for them too, and heading to the Trading Post for a slushie is a popular way to spend it.

Our older Scouts are taking merit badge classes too. Environmental Science and Sustainability are among the classes available, as are first aid, camping, crime prevention, finger printing, rifle shooting, climbing, kayaking, metal working, and wilderness survival. That is to say, our Scouts have a broad choice of merit badges they can work on earning. Most will come home having earned three or four new badges. Check out our September Court of Honor if you want to see all that our boys achieve this week.

Breakfast this morning is eggs and sausage. Since the 'all clear' was sounded about 7:15 AM, most everyone headed off, encased in wet weather gear, to the dining hall. A couple of Scouters, including this writer, remained to tend to other important business.

A tradition in our Troop, dating back five seasons, is to present the Camp Director (Roger Denton since 2015) with a plaque (depicting tribesmen's claws) commemorating our week at camp. We have also done so for the Program Director. This year, we did both.

Tonight, our young men who are at camp Geiger for the third summer and who have advanced in Scouting rank, will be eligible for induction into the Tribe of Mic-O-Say. The Tribe is the honor camping society of Camp Geiger.

Until the next post.

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